What are you doing today? Right now? If you’re reassuringly sipping your coffee, you must get up, stop reading, and go get ready. Unless of course you enjoy the chaos of the kitchen and all 30 of your guests asking whether or not you need help. Here’s a primer to help you get through the next two days.
First–Go Shopping
Pull out all of the recipes you’re going to need tomorrow. Now check to make sure you have all of the ingredients. I actually set up a card table and put all of my ingredients out on the table (unless of course they’re refrigerated.) Sounds silly now, but if you run out of something tomorrow as you’re trying to prepare your big feast, you’ll think, “Why didn’t I do like Valorie said, and check to make sure I had everything.” So go check. If you’re missing something, you’ll be glad that you’re going shopping today to get it rather than tomorrow. Check and make sure you have other stuff too like milk for cereal in the morning.
The Turkey
Is it in the refrigerator? It should be. It needs to thaw. In fact, it should’ve been in the fridge all week. . .probably better if it was never frozen. If it was frozen, you’re going to need to cook it longer.
The Sides
Is there anything that can be done today? Cranberry sauce is generally served cold, and since it doesn’t come in a can–go ahead and make it today. Potatoes can be cooked and peeled and mashed. Put them in a Ziploc bag and then when you’re ready to use them, put them in a casserole dish with butter and a little milk to heat. They won’t taste reheated. In fact most casseroles can be done this way. Where this can’t be done consider chopping, dicing, cutting, or measuring today. (Pre-measured ingredients make recipes easy to follow for fledgling kitchen helpers.)
The Desserts
Go ahead, make all your desserts today. If they are supposed to be served warm you have a couple of options. You can cook them today and then stick them in a warm oven tomorrow after the turkey comes out. You can also put them together today but cook them tomorrow while your family is eating dinner. In general though, it really doesn’t matter if the dessert is warm and being made the day before still counts as ‘fresh’ so go ahead and save yourself the hassle and get dessert ready today.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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